Don't Give In
by The Head Reviewer
Summary: Elena's multiple run-ins with both Bruce Wayne and Gotham's Batman.


_Disclaimer: I don't own anything blah blah blah.  
_

Elena orders the only drink she knows of, a martini. She takes a seat at the bar, letting her elbows rest on the cool granite. She wishes she were more like Caroline who knew a whole list of exotic and color cocktails. Grabbing a handful of nuts and munches on them, hoping that she hasn't forgotten about some nut allergy she has. She wipes excess salt from her fingertips and is grateful when her martini is slid in front of her. She sets the glass down gracefully, feeling the burn of the alcohol rush down her throat.

Contemplating whether she should order another, the bartender sets a bright blue margarita down in front of her. Elena is startled and the bartender jerks his head toward a man a couple seats down. Elena expects the man to be someone slimy or a total douche with sunglasses on inside a dimly lit bar. Instead, there's a handsome young man -roughly in his late twenties, early thirties- looking sharp in a pinstripe suit. She lifts a glass man with breathtakingly defined cheekbones before taking a sip.

The man heads over, as expected, leaning on one arm against the bar, facing her.

"I thought you were a little thirsty," the man says, his eyes glancing down at her empty martini glass.

Elena plucks the mini plastic toothpick from the empty glass, feeling defensive. "Okay, those bar nuts are like, really, salty," Elena finds herself giggling. She feels idiotic, wondering who in the world giggled. She eats the olive whole, feeling the salty taste explode over her taste buds. She feels the man's gaze on her and her cheeks tinge a light shade of pink as she thinks about how seductively she could have possibly eaten the olive.

"Scotch, neat," the man orders and takes a seat next to her. "You're new," he observes. "What brings you to Gotham on this fine night?" In the distance, wailing sirens can be heard over the soft music of the piano.

"Please, you make it sound like I'm a prostitute," Elena sips at her drink again before dropping her voice. "But to tell you the truth, Gotham has a nice little sea of business men just _dying _to have some fun." She tries to make her voice overly seductive and the man leans back, chuckling. They sit in silence for a few minutes, both sipping at their drinks. The only noise is the occasional sound of ice cubes gently hitting each other inside Elena's drink.

Elena studies the stranger's face as he stares down into his drink morosely. He looks up, noticing her heavy stare and Elena quickly looks away.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to stare," Elena mumbles. The man gives her a weak smile but his deep brown eyes show much sorrow. "You just looked a little upset."

"My parents died on this day, years ago." The man finishes his drink quickly, before setting it on the counter a little louder than necessary. "But you don't want to listen to an old man's miseries."

"Look who's thirsty now," Elena says, attempting to lift his spirits. "If it makes you feel any better, my parents are dead, too," Elena sighs. She crunches on an ice cube and takes another sip of her blue drink. She feels a cool hand on her back and she turns around. "Damon," she says, surprised. She turns back to the man. "This is... not my boyfriend," Elena finishes lamely.

"Only the brother of her boyfriend," Damon supplies in a silky voice.

Elena looks down, realizing how horrible the words sound coming out of his mouth. "We should go," Elena says hurriedly. "Thank you for the drink, Mr.-"

"Bruce. It's Bruce," the man says. His eyes still have that troubled look in them but his smile appears genuine.

Elena feels Damon tugging at her hand like a little child. She's being half dragged away as she turns her head back one last time. "Thank you Bruce," Elena says laughing, the sound of it infectious. She clacks away in her heels.

* * *

Elena finds herself being nearly thrown off the roof of a building. Upset and hurt that Damon's abandoned her in this dangerous city for 'business' causes her to become heavily intoxicated. She stumbles around in the loud club, stealing drinks off a waiter's tray. Her legs feel like jelly and it doesn't matter how many times she bumps into different people. She feels no pain. Pain is nothing. She laughs, laughing without humor but laughing nonetheless.

She bumps into a stranger and apologizes but he doesn't seem to take the apology very well. He grabs her roughly by the arm, dragging her away from the crowd. She's being forced up stairs when she realizes this man isn't playing.

"Hey," Elena says, her head throbbing. "Watch it?" She trips over her feet, following onto the cold hard metal staircase. It's getting increasingly difficult to walk in her heels and she groans, wanting the world around her to stop spinning.

She doesn't get up until she feels something poke her back.

"Up we go," the man coaxes, pulling her up. She's limp but drags her feet to climb up more stairs. She finds herself on a roof where there are more voices and smoke. Lots of smoke. She smells alcohol and as she takes more steps, she hears herself treading on broken glass. Someone pushes her up against a wall and it isn't long before she feels someone attempting to force his lips against hers.

She tries to turn her head away but the man is rough.

"Come on, Sugar," the man laughs. His breath is stale and reeks of alcohol. "Thought you just wanted to have some fun." He tries to kiss her again and he succeeds. He manages to stick his tongue down her throat and Elena knees him in the balls.

"Damn, bitch," the man hisses, taking steps back as he clutches his stomach. Elena makes a run for it, taking short strides. The alcohol has gotten to her eyes making everything fuzzy and the roof exit seems to be getting further and further away.

A large hand grabs her shoulder roughly and she yelps in pain.

"Help!" Elena tries to yell, her voice cracking.

The man yanks a handful of her long hair back, growling into her ear. "No one can save you up hear." Cronies in the background bark with laughter and Elena whimpers. She tries to kick and scratch him as hard as she can as he drags her somewhere.

She digs her nails deep into his cheek, ripping her hand down. She can feel blood on her fingertips and she spits in the guy's face, making him mad. She turns around to make a move but there's another person there who pushes her. She's pushed into another man who pushes her towards the other guy, being pushed back and forth between the two.

"Teach that little bitch a lesson," one man says. She doesn't know which man it is- the guy who dragged her to the roof, tries to kiss her, or the man who she drew blood from. Were they even three different people?

Elena feels people grab each arm, dragging her. She feels herself being forced up onto the edge of the building as the men debate whether to drop her. Elena's screaming now; screaming for help, screaming for her life. Her prayers are answered as she hear the cursing of many people. She hears women shrieking and men cursing.

"It's him," someone yells.

"Who? Who is it?" Elena hears a female yell.

"It's the Batman," another voice shouts. Everyone's panicking and running. Elena is thrown back onto the roof where she hits the floor with her head. Every is a blur as she feels blood trickling down her forehead. There are gunshots now as more and more people start to scream. Lifting her head up, she sees a dark figure taking on many men at once, beating them down. She sees someone shoot at the figure but bullets are repelled by some type of armor he's wearing.

Elena knows she has to run away to and she mentally encourages her body to pick herself up. She manages to get to her knees and her eyes go wide as she sees people being shot down. She senses death all around her. She spots two people struggling with each other, one pointing his gun everywhere. She hears someone pull the trigger and doesn't even realize the gun was pushed so it pointed at her. Something cold and hard is blasted into her left shoulder and she immediately feels blood gushing out. The pain is excruciating as she cries out while she starts to lose feeling in her arm. She blinks once slowly, before everything goes black.

-.-

Elena wakes up, feeling someone pouring something over her wound. Whatever it is stings and she tries to move in discomfort. She finds herself being pinned down and she closes her eyes, listening to a soft voice telling her to sleep.

-.-

Elena flutters her eyelids, before finally opening her eyes. She feels something tugging at her skin and glances at her shoulder to find someone stitching her up. She's surprised and withers around, only to rip out a few stitches.

"You'll rip out your stitches if you keep moving," a voice says. It's the same voice as before- calm and with a posh British accent.

She waits calmly, her nails digging into her palms.

"Finished," says the man says, putting down the needle and thread.

"Where am I?" Elena asks, checking out her surroundings. "Is this a hospital?"

The man smiles. He's old but looks friendly. "Not exactly."

Elena remains skeptical. "Then who are you? And why am I here?"

"Do you remember what happened last night?"

Elena's brow furrows as she tries to remember the events. Her head pounds as she suffers a massive hangover. "Someone came and everyone started freaking out. The 'Batman' or something had arrived and everyone was running. I remember being shot and that's all."

The man nods, taking in the information. Elena can't help but notice the flash of recognition when she mentions Batman. She's heard a lot about him from the news. The last she heard of him was that he was being chased by the police. He had been responsible for multiple deaths during the Joker's reign of terror. If he was wanted by the police, what was he doing out at night, battling thugs?

"Wait, how did I get here?" Elena tries to run her left hand through her hair, only to flinch in pain.

"Ah, yes. You'll want to avoid moving that arm for a few weeks. I thought I had a sling somewhere..." The old man puts Elena's arm in a sling but that doesn't stop her from asking questions.

"Who are you?" Elena asks. "I'm not trying to be rude or anything," Elena corrects herself. "Nothing seems to be making sense. I keep asking questions but I'm not getting any answers."

The man pauses for a second before going on to say, "You were shot in the left shoulder. Someone brought you to me. I am not a doctor nor are you in a hospital but I assure you I am quite good at stitching people up."

"How did I get here though?"

The man hesitates again. "Someone brought you to me."

Elena snorts. "Everyone on that rooftop was a thug. Or a hooker. The only person who could have brought me was the 'Batman' and he's wanted by the police. What's he doing out in public?"

"That's what I want to know," the man says, a slight edge to his voice.

There are footsteps at the sound of someone getting closer. "Alfred, where's the...?"

A man walks in. He's wearing a sleek black armored suit. However it isn't his outfit that surprises Elena. His face is so defined with it's square jaw and defined cheekbones.

Bruce.

"What's she doing here?" the man demands. Elena recognizes him and she's pretty sure he recognizes her by the way he's gone rigid.

"Well, Master Wayne, did you expect me to toss her out onto the curbside once it was morning?" the old man asks.

Ah-ha. It is Bruce Wayne.

"Wait, what's going on?" Elena stares at Bruce, examining his getup. "Wait, are _you _the Batman?" Her jaw drops slightly, her mouth forming an O.

"It's more complicated than that," Bruce says briskly.

Elena laughs sarcastically. "Of course it is."

"What no thank you for saving your life?" Bruce replies. He turns to the man. "Take her home Alfred."

Elena puts one hand on her hip which is difficult considering she's sitting down on what seems to be a dining table. "Wait, I'm not going anywhere until I find out what the hell is happening. I mean, the police might like to hear _my _very interesting run-in with the Batman."

"Alfred, give us a moment will you?"

Alfred leaves, shaking his head out the door.

"You're hurt. You should really go now."

"I'm not going anywhere," Elena hisses. "What the hell is happening?"

"Listen, you really can't tell anyone what you saw last night or today. If other people found out about this it could be very dangerous for both me and you."

Elena rolls her eyes. "So just walk away and forget everything that's happened? People died last night, Bruce. People die _around _you," Elena says, harsher than intended.

She watches as Bruce straightens up, getting extremely tense. He doesn't say anything but turns around and walks out the door.

* * *

Elena heads out to the balcony where she finds Bruce, staring at the sky. The sun has just set but it isn't quite dark yet.

"Alfred told me the rest of the story," Elena says. "I'm sorry about what I said earlier. It was wrong of me to-"

"No." Bruce says, emotionless. "You were right." More pauses. "I should have never chosen this. Never become _it _again even I promised I wouldn't. I should have just let the Joker know it was me. Know the face under the mask."

"It doesn't matter. If you give up now, it's not going to changed what's happened."

"Every single person that's been hurt, every single life that's been lost is because of me." Bruce turns to face her. "My parents never would have ended up in that alley if I wasn't so goddamn scared of the opera."

They sit silently before Elena finally speaks.

"The night that my parents died, I blew off Family Night so that I could go to some party. I ended up getting stranded and they had to come pick me up. That's why we ended up on Wickery Bridge and that's why our car crash into the river. That's why they died. Our actions are what set things in motion but we have to live with that."

"I made a choice, Elena. Lots of people were hurt because of that choice."

"You also made a choice to stop. To try and stop the corruption and thugs that run this city. You made a choice to reject what the Joker tried to make you. You made a choice to do good, Bruce."

Bruce shakes his head. "No, don't make this all okay."

"That's the person who saves lives. Countless lives and fights everyday to try to make Gotham a better place. That's the person who saved my life."

"You don't understand."

"Then tell me!" Elena sighs out, exasperated.

"It hurts me. It hurts me knowing what I've done. And that pain is with me all the time. And everyday I think if I just give myself up to the Joker and the police, I can make that pain stop. It would be that easy. People I care about die around me. They're all gone. My parents, Harvey, Rachel... People get hurt and they never asked for it. They never asked to be saved. I just had to mess everything up for everyone."

"You can't give up now," Elena urges him. "Everything will then be wasted. Everyone who has died will have died for nothing," Elena says, her voice powerful. "You made a choice and you will stand by it to the end. Even when you want to give up, you must go on. Do you know why? Because we fall so that we learn to pick ourselves up. Surely you didn't expect not to fall once or twice? You're fighting for something bigger, for something that you believe in. What your parents and Rachel Dawes believe in. So you can go ahead and take off that mask for the whole world to see. You can give in to the Joker and show that even the best can be corrupted. Or you could continue. You could persevere to finish what you started. It's your choice, Bruce."

Elena stands up, not bothering to wait for his reply. "I'll be going now."

-.-

Elena steps outside the fancy apartment building, making it two steps before she's stopped.

"Wait."

Elena turns around to find Bruce running after her. He doesn't show any sign of stopping when he reaches her and astonishes her. He cups her face and kisses her full on the lip.

**A/N: Okay, so odd pairing but Elena's speech to Stefan would have fit so perfectly with Bruce Wayne. So I mixed the two:D Review if you'd like. Nice to know what you think of something so obscure. I guess that's me. Batman/BruceWayne X ANYONE floats my boat.  
**


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